<p>The administrative machinery is fully geared up for the conduct of the single phase Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on Thursday from 7 am to 6 pm. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The State has not witnessed a single phase polls for the Lok Sabha in several decades and on polling day a whopping 4.62 crore voters can exercise their franchise to elect their representatives for 28 Lok Sabha seats among 434 candidates in fray.<br /><br />In the electoral registration drive taken up by the Election Commission of India between January and March this year, an unprecedented 15.27 lakh voters got themselves registered. <br /><br />The number count of young voters (18-19 years) has crossed the seven digit mark and now stands at 11.12 lakh. The EC as well as political parties are expecting a majority of the young voters will make beeline to the polling stations on Thursday. <br /><br />The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be tested in Bangalore South, wherein a voter after casting the vote in EVM will be able to see whether the vote has been recorded, with the help of a a transparent window of a printer, kept along with the balloting unit inside the voting compartment. <br /><br />The printed paper slip will show the serial number, name and the symbol of the candidate for whom the vote has been cast before the paper slip is cut and dropped in the drop box of the printer. <br /><br /> Another first for votes of Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls is that the electorate can exercise the None of the Above (NOTA) option. <br /><br />Webcasting<br /><br />In all, voting will take place in 54,261 polling stations across the State. Proceedings of around 5,000 sensitive polling stations across will be webcast live to the office of the jurisdictional returning officer. The webcasting will also be centrally monitored at the office of chief electoral officer, sources said.<br /><br />As many as 11 constituencies will have more than one ballot unit as the number of candidates in fray is above 15. These include Bidar, Koppal, Haveri, Dharwad, Davangere, Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar.There will be 50 ‘model polling booths’ for every parliamentary constituency. These polling booths will have adequate seating arrangement, better infrastructure .<br /><br />Mobile phones barred<br /><br />Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha said that it is advisable that voters do not take cell phones with them at all when going to the polling booth to exercise their franchise.<br /><br />Otherwise, the cell phone will have to deposited with the polling officer before entering the booth. Taking of photos or ‘selfies’ inside the polling stations is strictly prohibited and is one of the reason for ban of cell phones inside polling stations, says Jha. <br /><br />A few youngsters in Kerala landed into trouble after uploading the selfies taken while voting on social network sites.</p>
<p>The administrative machinery is fully geared up for the conduct of the single phase Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on Thursday from 7 am to 6 pm. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The State has not witnessed a single phase polls for the Lok Sabha in several decades and on polling day a whopping 4.62 crore voters can exercise their franchise to elect their representatives for 28 Lok Sabha seats among 434 candidates in fray.<br /><br />In the electoral registration drive taken up by the Election Commission of India between January and March this year, an unprecedented 15.27 lakh voters got themselves registered. <br /><br />The number count of young voters (18-19 years) has crossed the seven digit mark and now stands at 11.12 lakh. The EC as well as political parties are expecting a majority of the young voters will make beeline to the polling stations on Thursday. <br /><br />The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be tested in Bangalore South, wherein a voter after casting the vote in EVM will be able to see whether the vote has been recorded, with the help of a a transparent window of a printer, kept along with the balloting unit inside the voting compartment. <br /><br />The printed paper slip will show the serial number, name and the symbol of the candidate for whom the vote has been cast before the paper slip is cut and dropped in the drop box of the printer. <br /><br /> Another first for votes of Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls is that the electorate can exercise the None of the Above (NOTA) option. <br /><br />Webcasting<br /><br />In all, voting will take place in 54,261 polling stations across the State. Proceedings of around 5,000 sensitive polling stations across will be webcast live to the office of the jurisdictional returning officer. The webcasting will also be centrally monitored at the office of chief electoral officer, sources said.<br /><br />As many as 11 constituencies will have more than one ballot unit as the number of candidates in fray is above 15. These include Bidar, Koppal, Haveri, Dharwad, Davangere, Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar.There will be 50 ‘model polling booths’ for every parliamentary constituency. These polling booths will have adequate seating arrangement, better infrastructure .<br /><br />Mobile phones barred<br /><br />Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha said that it is advisable that voters do not take cell phones with them at all when going to the polling booth to exercise their franchise.<br /><br />Otherwise, the cell phone will have to deposited with the polling officer before entering the booth. Taking of photos or ‘selfies’ inside the polling stations is strictly prohibited and is one of the reason for ban of cell phones inside polling stations, says Jha. <br /><br />A few youngsters in Kerala landed into trouble after uploading the selfies taken while voting on social network sites.</p>
